"To live outside the law, you must be honest, I know you always say that you agree, So where are you tonight, sweet Marie" Bob Dylan
Some things to think about - several students in my earlier story song seminars mentioned that they were surprised at the vulgar language and depraved themes that emerge in some of the songs I played and assigned. It’s a very interesting issue and one that merits some thought. Anthropologists and folklorists have long noted that music and musical performance often has transgressive features. All human societies have rules and laws to channel and control behavior. Those rules are more or less oppressive...they definitely limit possibilities and hem people in. This creates tension and resentment and most societies have developed customs and situations that allow people to transgress - occasionally, temporarily, and in “controlled” circumstances. In our society music is often used to signal a change in social space - the national anthem, hymns, etc. remind people of the social space they occupy and what’s required. Naturally, music signals the emergence of transgressive opportunities - so there is lounge music, party music, rave music, dope-smoking music, etc. Popular music often gives the audience the chance to vicariously experience transgressive behavior...the foul language, sexualized lyrical content, and celebration of outlaw lifestyles of various kinds is exciting. Naturally, the repertoire of ballads reflects this...many ballads celebrate criminals and/or explore the circumstances and consequences of behavior that people normally deem depraved. Murder Ballad Monday is doing an on-going terrific job of exploring the most primal of transgressive balladry.
Similarly, in our society and many others musicians are often expected to live transgressive lives. This creates a paradox that many musicians are unable to resolve...the fact that society both rewards and punishes musicians for flaunting convention and defying norms of morality. In modern music the feedback between musicians and their audience often demands both transgressive songs and transgressive behavior from the musician. In some genres, a musician softens his or her defiant stance at the risk of losing audience credibility. People seem to expect the musicians they admire to live much more transgressive lives than themselves. This makes the role of the musician very difficult, in some genres more than others. This expectation is justified through suspect scholarship that supports the myth that madness and depravity is the natural seedbed of the creative spirit. Looking at the situation from the outside (as though we were extraterrestrial anthropologists) we’d simply note that humans are weird animals that take pleasure in bearing witness to extreme and self-destructive behavior even at the cost of the lives of people they claim to admire. What could explain this? It’s just fun. It’s exciting to imagine reckless disregard of cultural norms, ideas of right and wrong. Essentially all of us resent having to fit into the societal mold and enjoying breaking free vicariously and safely through enjoying crime, depravity, and hedonism in the songs we love.
I’m not here to make judgements. The songs I choose are all very typical of their genre. I try to choose songs that dramatize a range of human problems and situations. I’d like to make sense of all this beyond the obvious conclusion that we are very odd creatures and our society is one of the oddest. Conflict gives stories their dynamic qualities. Let’s think about this stuff. I’d love to hear your views, theories and speculations as the semester unfolds.
M.Thomas, Instructor
"To live outside the law, you must be honest, I know you always say that you agree,
So where are you tonight, sweet Marie" Bob Dylan
Some things to think about - several students in my earlier story song seminars mentioned that they were surprised at the vulgar language and depraved themes that emerge in some of the songs I played and assigned. It’s a very interesting issue and one that merits some thought. Anthropologists and folklorists have long noted that music and musical performance often has transgressive features. All human societies have rules and laws to channel and control behavior. Those rules are more or less oppressive...they definitely limit possibilities and hem people in. This creates tension and resentment and most societies have developed customs and situations that allow people to transgress - occasionally, temporarily, and in “controlled” circumstances. In our society music is often used to signal a change in social space - the national anthem, hymns, etc. remind people of the social space they occupy and what’s required. Naturally, music signals the emergence of transgressive opportunities - so there is lounge music, party music, rave music, dope-smoking music, etc. Popular music often gives the audience the chance to vicariously experience transgressive behavior...the foul language, sexualized lyrical content, and celebration of outlaw lifestyles of various kinds is exciting. Naturally, the repertoire of ballads reflects this...many ballads celebrate criminals and/or explore the circumstances and consequences of behavior that people normally deem depraved. Murder Ballad Monday is doing an on-going terrific job of exploring the most primal of transgressive balladry.
Similarly, in our society and many others musicians are often expected to live transgressive lives. This creates a paradox that many musicians are unable to resolve...the fact that society both rewards and punishes musicians for flaunting convention and defying norms of morality. In modern music the feedback between musicians and their audience often demands both transgressive songs and transgressive behavior from the musician. In some genres, a musician softens his or her defiant stance at the risk of losing audience credibility. People seem to expect the musicians they admire to live much more transgressive lives than themselves. This makes the role of the musician very difficult, in some genres more than others. This expectation is justified through suspect scholarship that supports the myth that madness and depravity is the natural seedbed of the creative spirit. Looking at the situation from the outside (as though we were extraterrestrial anthropologists) we’d simply note that humans are weird animals that take pleasure in bearing witness to extreme and self-destructive behavior even at the cost of the lives of people they claim to admire. What could explain this? It’s just fun. It’s exciting to imagine reckless disregard of cultural norms, ideas of right and wrong. Essentially all of us resent having to fit into the societal mold and enjoying breaking free vicariously and safely through enjoying crime, depravity, and hedonism in the songs we love.
I’m not here to make judgements. The songs I choose are all very typical of their genre. I try to choose songs that dramatize a range of human problems and situations. I’d like to make sense of all this beyond the obvious conclusion that we are very odd creatures and our society is one of the oddest. Conflict gives stories their dynamic qualities. Let’s think about this stuff. I’d love to hear your views, theories and speculations as the semester unfolds.